Surfaced
by Skye
Summary: When Hotaru tries to help Mikan sort through her feelings, her own begin to surface. Mikan/Hotaru


**Surfaced**

Hotaru came up to Mikan's room. She had a long list of things to do for her schoolwork and inventing, but she had to keep her eye on Mikan. She found her sitting down, writing a letter. Hotaru grabbed Mikan's hand. "What are you doing?" Hotaru demanded.

"I'm writing a letter," Mikan said.

"To who?" Hotaru said, refusing to let go of her hand.

"Grandpa," Mikan said.

"Mikan, I know you heard already, you're grandfather is dead," Hotaru said.

"Eh? No, he'll be fine. He just had to go to the hospital."

"He had to go to the hospital, and then he died there," Hotaru informed.

Mikan pulled her hand away so quickly that her pencil snapped. "What are you talking about, you insensitive jerk?" she shouted. "Saying it so easily! Grandpa's all the family I have left! You have your parents, your brother, and the rest of your family! I have nothing without Grandpa!"

"It's true that he was the last of your family. But he's dead now, so you really do have no one left. Stop the crazy act. You might be fooling everyone else, but you aren't fooling me," Hotaru said calmly.

"Leave me alone!" Mikan shouted.

"He's dead. He's gone. You'll never see him again," Hotaru said frankly.

Mikan turned around and slapped Hotaru. Hotaru for once didn't retaliate, just looked downcast at the floor. "If he wasn't gone, I couldn't see him anyway! What difference does this make? Why are you so eager to see my grandpa dead? Did you hate him that much?" Mikan demanded.

"No," Hotaru said calmly. "That old man was a pretty good guy. He deserves to be recognized, not have you pretend nothing happened."

Tears came into Mikan's eyes. She fell into Hotaru's arms, pushing her face into her chest before she began to cry. Hotaru noticed the interesting placement of her face. _That pervert,_ she thought to herself, but did nothing. Mikan had other things on her mind, she was honestly devastated by this event. Hotaru patted her back to calm her. "Hotaru, I d-don't know what to do," she said.

"There's nothing for you to do. You're in this school, meaning you can't go back home anyway, but you also you don't have to worry about how you'll be supported," Hotaru rationalized.

"Idiot! You act like it's nothing. You, and everyone are just walking around like nothing happened, but grandpa's gone." Mikan sobbed.

"Mikan..." Hotaru struggled for words to comfort her. "I know it's something. You've lost a very important person," she paused, wishing she could show her sympathy with words. But all she could do was be frank with Mikan, which didn't seem to help anything at all. So she was silent while Mikan cried for a while, and then eventually stopped, still clutching onto Hotaru.

"Hotaru..." Mikan finally spoke.

"Hm?" Hotaru said as she became more alert to listen.

"Grandpa always liked you. He knew I was different, and said it was too bad that you didn't return my feelings, because he approved of you," Mikan rambled, feeling very foolish as soon as she did.

"Dummy."

"Wha- What's that?" Mikan said, pushing Hotaru away.

But Hotaru pulled her closer, hugging her again. "Don't just make assumptions. Who said I didn't return your feelings?" Hotaru said.

"So, you do?" Mikan asked, her eyes wide.

"I never said that," Hotaru said. She certainly wouldn't choose a time when Mikan was grief stricken to admit she had also been in love with her. She loosened her embrace on Mikan quickly. No, she'd never taken advantage of Mikan's vulnerability.

As Hotaru was lost in thought considering this, she missed Mikan's large textbook coming down on her head. "Ouch! What was that for, dummy?!"

"You usually block it, you idiot!" Mikan said.

"So you did it to get hit?" Hotaru demanded.

"No! I just want to know how you feel. Do you love me or don't you? It has to be one way or another!"

"I do," Hotaru admitted hastily.

There was a moment of silence, and then Mikan started laughing uncontrollably.

"What?" Hotaru asked irritably.

"I never thought you would say it. You should see your funny expression now. Wait, you can!" Mikan said, and then Hotaru saw a quick flash of light.

Hotaru quickly snatched the camera, and realized it was her own. Before she could think of something to say, Mikan spoke again.

"Thank you, Hotaru," she said. Hotaru was surprised. She didn't really think she'd done anything for Mikan to be thankful for. But Mikan explained, "Even when I think you're so far away, you're always been there for me, haven't you?"

Hotaru gave Mikan another hug as an answer. She also gave Mikan a smile before hurriedly leaving the room. Exposing her emotions had never been easy. But later, while developing her photos, she thought, doesn't Mikan deserve that?

Still up late at night, Mikan heard a noise. Looking around quickly, she saw a piece of paper had been slid under the door. She opened it up, finding that it protected a photo of Hotaru, with a very wide-eyed nervous expression. Mikan giggled at the sight of it. It could have only come from one source, the girl whose camera she took it with. Mikan knew it was Hotaru's way of trying to give her something. Whatever that was, she'd try and figure out later. For now, she placed the photo on her desk where she could look at it often and began to write:

_Dear Grandpa, I'm going to miss you so much, even though I haven't seen in so long. But now I know I'm not left with nothing. I have Hotaru! Yes, Hotaru loves me too!_


End file.
